‘The Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond’s Highest-Rated Recipe on Food Network Is Surprising in Its Simplicity
Ree Drummond has built quite an empire around her Pioneer Woman branding and assembled a veritable catalog of acclaimed recipes.
With the hundreds of recipes she’s created and worked on as a Food Network personality, it’s startling that her most popular recipe on the Food Network website is one of her most humble and simple.
1of Drummond’s least popular recipes on the Food Network site
Out of over 1500 recipes on the network’s website, one of Drummond’s least popular is her Tres Leches cake. The Oklahoma born-and-bred chef’s spin on this rich Latin American dessert includes five large eggs (yes, five), an entire cup of sugar, heavy cream, condensed milk, and evaporated milk.
Many reviewers loved it: “Scrumptious!! I made exactly as the recipe states and it came out beautiful! It’ll be one of my favorite go-to sweet treats,” “Quite possibly the best dessert I have ever made,” and “This cake is the bomb and I can’t wait to make it again! Almost addictive!”
But others didn’t like it as much, with a major complaint of Drummond’s cake, famous for its intense moistness, being its dryness: “Cake recipe is thin and not as moist,” and “sorry, no one liked it, it was very dry for some reason, did everything the recipe said.”
Ree Drummond’s most highly rated recipe on Food Network’s website
Surprisingly, the Pioneer Woman’s No. 1 rated recipe on the network’s website is one of her most humble, Perfect Pot Roast, which has a perfect five-star rating with over 1000 reviews. It’s not sexy, but it gets the job done, as evidenced by its popularity.
Drummond’s simple recipe (full instructions here) includes a three to five pound roast, olive oil, onions, carrots, beef broth, and fresh rosemary and thyme. The addition of red wine is optional.
The carrots and onions are caramelized in olive oil and removed. The roast itself is then seared on all sides in the oil and set aside. With the burner on low, the (optional) wine or the beef broth are added and the deglazing can take place. The roast, carrots, and onions are returned to the pot with enough broth to cover it halfway and left to simmer for three to five hours, depending on the roast’s size, with the lid on the sauce pot.
As Food Network noted on an Instagram post for the popular pot roast: “Ree’s pot roast is a no-fail crowd-pleaser with 5-star reviews in the triple digits. You’ll know the meat’s ready when it’s fall-apart tender.”
Drummond’s stellar Perfect Pot Roast reviews
In Drummond’s top Food Network spot for quite a while, her pot roast has captured glowing reviews.
“Delicious, and I might even use the word elegant in its simplicity,” said one reviewer. “I served it with steamed baby potatoes with salt, pepper, butter, and parmesan cheese, and red wine.”
Another happy fan wrote, “I discovered this recipe not long ago but it has opened a whole new world of flavor to me. I am looking forward to Sundays with all day aromatics filling the air.”
